The post comes from the Twitter page of Gary Kadi founder of NextLevel Practice and we encourage you to re-tweet or re-post this to your social media outlets as well.
In the surgical wing of the Center for Pediatric Dentistry at Seattle Children?s Hospital, Devon Koester, 2 ½ years old, was resting last month in his mother?s arms as an anesthesiologist held a bubble-gum-scented mask over his face to put him under. The doctors then took X-rays, which showed that 11 of his 20 baby teeth had cavities. Then his pediatric dentist extracted 2 incisors, performed a root canal on a molar, and gave the rest fillings and crowns.
Devon?s mother, Melody Koester, a homemaker from Stanwood, WA, and her husband, Matthew, an information technology manager, said they began worrying about brushing Devon?s teeth only after Mrs. Koester noticed they were discolored when he was 18 months old. ?I had a lot on my mind, and brushing his teeth was an extra thing I didn?t think about at night,? she said.
The number of preschoolers requiring extensive dental work suggests that many other parents make the same mistake. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted an increase, the first in 40 years, in the number of preschoolers with cavities in a study 5 years ago. But dentists nationwide say they are seeing more preschoolers at all income levels with 6 to 10 cavities or more. The level of decay, they added, is so severe that they often recommend using general anesthesia because young children are unlikely to sit through such extensive procedures while they are awake.
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